84 



GREAT NORTHERN DIVER, OR LOON. 

 COLYMBUS GLACIALIS. 

 [Plate LXXIV.— Fig. 3.] 



Penjstaivt, Br. Zool. 237. Jlrct, Zool. 439. — Le grand Plongeon tacheU, Bmss. Orn. VI, 120. tab. 2^ 

 Jig. 1. — ]/'Imhrim, ou grand Plongeon de la Mer du J^ord^ De Buff. Ois. XV, p. 461. PI. enl. 

 JV'o. 952. — TuRT. Syst. I, 356. — Lath. Gen. Syn. Ill, pt. 2, p. 337. — Colymhus maximus caudatiis, 

 Kaii, Syn. p. 125, A. 4. — Greatest speckled Liver, or Loon, Willughby, Orn. p. 341. — Gi^eat speck- 

 led JDiver, Bartham, 295. — Albin, ill, pi. 93. — Bewick's British Birds, II, p. 168. — Peace's 

 Museum, J^o. 3262, male and young. — female. 



THIS bird in Pennsylvania is migratory. In the autumn it 

 makes its appearance with the various feathered tribes that fre- 

 quent our waters ; and when the streams are obstructed with ice, 

 it departs for the southern states.^ In the months of March and 

 April it is again seen ; and after lingering awhile, it leaves us for 

 the purpose of breeding. The Loons are found along the coast 

 as well as in the interior ; but in the summer they retire to the 

 fresh water lakes and ponds. We have never heard that they 

 breed in Pennsylvania ; but it is said they do in Missibisci pond, 

 near Boston, Massachusetts. The female lays two large brown- 

 ish eggs. They are commonly seen in pairs, and procure their 

 food, which is fish, in the deepest water of our rivers, diving after 

 it, and continuing under for a length of time. Being a wary bird, 

 it is seldom they are killed, eluding their pursuers by their asto- 

 nishing faculty of diving. They seem averse from flying, and are 

 but seldom seen on the wing. They are never eaten. 



The Loon is said to be restless before a storm ; and an ex- 

 perienced master of a coasting vessel informed me that he al- 



* Tlie Loon is said to winter in tlie Chesapeake bay. 



